From Puma flagship stores to community gymnasiums, from a high-rise hotel in Japan to homes both opulent and affordable, the Southern California firm Stephen Kanner Architects creates rational, humane and inspiring environments with distinct personalities. Founded and nurtured over 60 years ago, the firm brings the optimism and adventurousness of its home state to sites all over the world. This survey of 10 recent projects demonstrates the harmony of proportion and easy flow of space that marks their aesthetic. Their Iconic buildings, light in both senses: they seem to float, and they find the sun, exploiting natural light. With nods to De Stijl and R.M. Schindler, third-generation principal Stephen Kanner solves problems with a timeless appeal more mindful of content than style. Extensively researched and thoroughly fashioned, these designs address each commission's and each site's challenges.

Kanner Architects have created their own approach to designing Modernist buildings and interiors that relate to their environments and exhibit distinct personalities. The firm works internationally, applying the optimism and adventurousness of its Southern California roots to the conditions indigenous to each site. Stephen H. Kanner, president and director of design, guides his staff in a fusion of structure, volume, material and color that results in buildings that are light, both in sense of weight and in their ability to find and exploit natural light. In this survey of 11 projects, Kanner Architects demonstrate the harmony of proportion and easy flow of space that marks the firm's aesthetic. Stephen Kanner speaks with a distinctive language, solving problems with an approach always mindful of context.